Women and Hollywood Joins IndieWIRE Blog Network

Please welcome Women and Hollywood to the indieWIRE blog network. It's an excellent fit. Melissa Silverstein is a swift and persistent cinephile who champions the female perspective. She shares info and insight about women filmmakers trying to get their films made and seen, as well as the legions of women who want to see these films. She's also the founder of the Athena Film Festival, which launches next month at Barnard in New York.

Please welcome Women and Hollywood to the indieWIRE blog network. It's an excellent fit. Melissa Silverstein is a swift and persistent cinephile who champions the female perspective. She shares info and insight about women filmmakers trying to get their films made and seen, as well as the legions of women who want to see these films. She's also the founder of the Athena Film Festival, which launches next month at Barnard in New York.

"I try to raise awareness of women's contributions to the entertainment industry and try to put women's voices out there that don't get heard and seen," says Silverstein, an unabashed feminist. "I value women who buy tickets and create entertainment in an important way."

Silverstein is excited about making the move to indieWIRE: "It shows that the work I have been doing for the last several years is ready to be seen in a new way, by a diverse audience. It takes the blog to a new level."

Thompson on Hollywood

Born and raised in Manhattan, Anne Thompson grew up going to the Thalia and The New Yorker and wound up at grad Cinema Studies at NYU. She worked at United Artists and Film Comment before heading west as that magazine's west coast editor. She wrote for the LA Weekly, Sight and Sound, Empire, The New York Times and Entertainment Weekly before serving as West Coast Editor of Premiere. She wrote for The Washington Post, The London Observer, Wired, More, and Vanity Fair, and did staff stints at The Hollywood Reporter and Variety. She eventually took her blog Thompson on Hollywood to Indiewire. She taught film criticism at USC Critical Studies, and continues to host the fall semester of “Sneak Previews” for UCLA Extension.